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In a letter, Tolkien says that these two wizards went into the East, and likely failed their mission, perhaps having started magical cults.[3] However, all of this changes in a text written in the last year or two of Tolkien's life.[4] An alternate set of names are given - Morinehtar and Rómestámo (or Rome(n)star), Darkness-slayer and East-helper. It is not clear whether these names were intended to be replacements for Alatar and Pallando or whether they were a second set of names (for instance, their names used in Middle-earth).

They are said to have arrived not in the Third Age, but in the Second, around the year SA 1600, the time of the Forging of the One Ring. Their mission was directed at weakening Sauron's forces in the eastern part of Middle-earth. And it is here said that the Wizards far from failed; rather, they had a pivotal role in the victories of the West at the end of both the Second and the Third Ages. Glorfindel was likely also, Tolkien mentioned later, a shipmate of the Wizards, for he reappears in history about that time.[2]

Like most names in Tolkien's works, the names of the Blue Wizards are significant. The name Romestamo means East-helper, coming from the Quenya word romen, meaning uprising, sunrise, east. Here, Rómestámo incorporates not only his relation to the East of Middle-earth, but also his mission there: to encourage uprising and rebellion against Sauron. Similarly, Pallando may include the Quenyan palan meaning far: while Ala- is a stem meaning "spread", and Tar, Taure is a forest-name meaning dark woods.

Accordingly the Valinorean names may equate "Far-seer" (Pallando) and "Wide-forest" or "Forest-spreader" (Alatar), with reference perhaps to their unique provinces, Pallando over foresight and Alatar over trees, as Aiwendil (Radagast) was over beasts. Morinehtar includes the elements mor- darkness (cf. mornië) and -ehtar (cf. Telumehtar "warrior of the heavens" as a name given to the constellation Orion, though here translated "warrior").[citation needed]

In the films the Blue Wizards are never mentioned by name, only referenced with "the rods of the five wizards" by Saruman in the extended cut of the third film.

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, when Bilbo asks Gandalf if there are any other wizards in Middle-earth, Gandalf states there are "five of us": himself, Radagast, Saruman, and the two Blue Wizards, but he has "quite forgotten their names". The exclusion of the Blue wizards' names from that film, according to Peter Jackson in the director's commentary to the extended edition, was due to the film makers' not having acquired rights to the entirety of Tolkien's works, only to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The wizards' names are never mentioned in the seven books they had rights to, so they were not able to name them in the movies.

In the game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, The Weathered Azurite Figurine, The Two Wizards artifact can be found in the north-western part of the Sea of Núrnen. In the game are not said their names, but from the description of this artifact we can guess that these two wizards are Alatar and Pallando. In the memory of this artifact is said:

"See, there were two of them, and they both came in from the road with a hard look in their eyes, as if they'd traveled too far and seen too much. They were Wizards, true, both of 'em caked in dust, and when one'd talk he'd stop to think and there'd be the other to finish right up, like they had one brain and two mouths. It was creepy for sure, but neither seemed to notice.

I heard them say they were hunting the darkness. Damned if I know if they found it. But I guess those fellows can find trouble when they're looking for it."